This year has been an eye opener for me. I have come to realize that it is quite easy to lose sight of why we chose to enter this profession; to lose sight of seeing our students as the individuals they are and not just another grade in the grade book; to lose sight that parents are oftentimes feeling so helpless and at a loss with their own children and are petrified of being labeled bad parents.
This year has been a turning point for me as a teacher. In the last five years, I've been that teacher that throws a fit over gum in the classroom, gets aggravated of late and missing assignments, and can't abide students attempting to have the last word. I somehow subconsciously came to the decision that I didn't want to be THAT teacher that would make a kid just say to themselves, "I'm done!" and begin their countdown to drop out and "get a real job" (dropout can legally happen at 16 in GA). I realized this year that more kids that I care to count walk into my room hungry, tired, without proper clothes for the weather, and stressed out from parents unrealistic expectations . I don't want to be that one more adult in their lives that criticizes, belittles, or just ignores what they are going through.
So, what changed for me this year?
Late work: Student doesn't have assignment? No problem. They have 3 days to get it in before they get a new one.
Missing Assignment: Student doesn't turn in an assignment, and it's more than 3 days late? Student gets an alternate assignment.
Failing test grade? No problem. Get the test signed by a parent. Complete your test corrections and extra practice you get from me, and you can retake any test I give during that nine weeks.
Want to raise your grade, but you've already retaken every test? No problem! Join my book club. Choose one of the two books to read and complete the discussion questions and one project from the project options list. Turn in to me for a check and discussion. If you've completed all required elements, you've just earned yourself an extra 100 test/project grade.
This is the first year I've combined all of these elements together. Not only do I have fewer kids failing for the nine weeks, To put it in perspective, I normally have about 10-12 students fail any nine weeks. I'm now down to 2. I have fewer kids taking zeroes when they know they can complete an alternate assignment for full credit. In addition, each nine weeks, I have fewer and fewer kids asking for alternate assignment since they don't want more work to do. The alternate assignment assesses the same material, but now the student must start over with a new article or topic from the original assignment.
Another big change for me this year is always having a well-stocked food drawer of snacks for students to have if needed. I know I'm not in a good mood when hungry much less have the focus to complete work. Why should my kids be any different. There are teachers that look down on that idea and make comments about not spending "their" money when the parents should be doing that job. At the end of the day, it's not going to break the bank to give my kids some crackers, and now I've built a relationship with that student that they can depend on me.
So what was the key to this year?? BUILD BETTER RELATIONSHIPS WITH MY STUDENTS!
Why did it take me so long to figure this out? Why did I play the power struggle game for the last years??
At the end of the day, I try and always remember to ask myself, how would I react as an adult if someone spoke to me that way?
